Just Daydreams
by Lostinthought319
Summary: They say you can't go home again. If that's true, no one told Aang... And while there, he encounters someone very familiar...


**This is my first Fanfiction.**

 **I know the description is kinda vague, but the story isn't as dire as it sounds, LOL.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Just Daydreams**

"Oh, look. Another hallucination. An imaginary bed made out of clouds." Aang thought as he blinked into consciousness.

Staring out his window, the clouds rolled away to reveal the Southern Air Temple.

"First day of spring." Aang breathed out in contentment.

Momo chittered behind him and he allowed the lemur to perch on his shoulder.

"Morning, Momo," he greeted his fuzzy companion. "Where's…?"

A loud groan interrupted his sentence, and floating below his window was…

"Appa!"

He leapt out of his window and made an air cushion, seating himself on his bison's head.

"Yip yip!" He shouted in glee as Appa took off, Momo trailing behind them.

Appa circled the island, whizzing between towers and dipping through bison hidey-holes.

Aang was enjoying the ride so much, it was enough to make him forget about…

"Training!" he exclaimed "Today's my first class. I should probably make a lesson plan." He paused, gauging Appa's response and earned a non-committal grunt. He shrugged and smirked to himself, "Yeah, I'll just wing it."

The lesson was scheduled for sunset, so he had plenty of time to formulate a plan…or not. The day got away from him. Launching pies at the elders, kicking Gyatso's butt in Pai Sho (the series is tied, but who's counting?), planning a weekend getaway with Bumi and Kuzon…

Now that he was 16, he had permission to travel unsupervised. Being the youngest airbending master ever didn't hurt, either. Unfortunately, that came with the drawback of being recruited to teach the younger kids (and some older ones).

"The world needs you to share your expertise, o mighty one," Monk Tashi had mocked.

"Yes, we need you, Aang," Gyatso had chuckled.

Aang had stuck his tongue out at him.

* * *

So as the sun began to set, Aang loped to the courtyard, unprepared and unnerved.

"Maybe nobody will show," he said to himself.

Turning the corner, he found dozens of pairs of expectant eyes trained on him.

He considered turning right back around, but took a deep breath and steeled his resolve.

Taking his spot in front, the boys and girls stared intensely at him, making him sweat.

Was it dinnertime yet?

"So…Airbending. The key to bending is shifting your weight through the stances and…uh…" He trailed off, really wishing he had a lesson plan or asked Gyatso for help.

Then an idea struck him like lightning coursing through his veins.

"Um…have you guys air-surfed before?"

25 minutes later

The sky was filled with young men and women riding their gliders on the air currents as if they were hanging 10. Aang breathed a sigh of relief that this was working out.

The little kids were instructed to stay close to the ground, while the older kids could go as high as they liked.

In the corner of his eye, an orange dot began careening out of control, off of the mountainside.

"Oh no!" Aang using a gust of wind, launched himself off the cliff, bringing his arms to his sides, increasing the speed.

The little girl's glider had torn. It must've brushed something sharp.

Aang collided with her, wrapping her in his arms.

"Hold on to me!" he ordered her.

As she did so, he unfurled his glider from the staff strapped to his back. They arced upwards, landing back on the ledge as Aang gently set her down, cradling her as she cried.

"Class dismissed." He told the concerned crowd that had gathered. "Sorry, guys."

They bowed and began to disperse once they made sure she was okay.

Aang waited until she calmed down, before letting her walk off with her friends who waited up for her.

He was rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration with himself when he heard a voice speak up, "That was a very brave thing you did."

He turned around to see a girl about his age, barefoot and silhouetted by the sunset.

"I was on my way to class when I saw it." She brushed her hair behind her ear. "Sorry I'm late, by the way."

"It's…fine. No problem. But she wouldn't have fallen if I hadn't been so stupid. What was I thinking? That technique's risky and…"

"I thought it looked fun."

He looked down and smiled. "It usually is."

She stepped forward and he got a better look at her. Her complexion was like cocoa and her hair much the same way. She was wearing typical Airbender garb, but without the robes, leaving her in a tunic that exposed her arms and legs. But what really grabbed him was her eyes. They were twin oceanic pools, unusual for his people.

"What do you think?" She asked him.

"Of…?"

She laughed. "Teaching me. You kinda zoned out there. You okay?"

He blinked himself out of his stupor.

"Yeah, yeah. Just hungry, I guess." He laughed weakly.

She extended her hand. "Well let's go then, Sifu."

He smiled and took her hand. "Sifu, huh? I don't think I've earned that title until I teach actual Airbending techniques instead of something Gyatso made up."

She giggled. "Gyatso made that up?! He teach you any other tricks?"

He grinned back at her. "Pie throwing. _That_ should be our next lesson."

They both cracked up, walking in the dark. As they neared the dining hall, he lost his breath at the sight of her shrouded by the moon. She was truly stunning, almost as if she was made to be one with the moon.

"By the way," he started, beginning to feel at ease, "I've never seen you around here before."

"What's your name?"

"It's…"

* * *

"KATARA!"

Aang gasped in wakefulness.

He realized he was in his room in the Gaang's private home in Ba Sing Se.

"It was…a dream."

He remembered now. His people were gone. His home was gone. And so was Katara.

He heard the front door open and a voice call out, "Aang?"

With inhuman speed, Aang zipped into the foyer, squeezing the life out of his girlfriend.

"Sweetie…can't…breathe." She gasped.

"Sorry!" He leapt back as if he had burned her again, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"What brought this on?" She asked, smiling.

"I missed you. You said you'd be in the South Pole eight days. It turned into _nineteen_." He pouted.

"Aww." She kissed his forehead, right on the arrow. "Feel better?"

"Much." He couldn't bite back his smile if he tried.

"Ugh, you guys are giving me oogies." Sokka whined as he walked in the door.

"Sokka?" A voice called from deeper inside the house.

"SUKI!" Sokka ran almost as fast as Aang, presumably to where Suki was.

The all too familiar sounds of making out could soon be heard.

"Breakfast?" Katara prompted, nodding to the city.

"Breakfast." Aang agreed. "Let me get changed."

He ran for his room and abruptly stopped.

"By the way, I think you'd look good in Air Nomad clothes." He blurted before turning the corner.

Katara was perplexed by that random comment.

What's weirder is that she'd been having similar dreams herself…

* * *

 **Plot twist! I don't have a follow-up in mind, but if anyone's interested I wouldn't mind writing one.**

 **Been a longtime Fanfiction reader. Never thought I'd write and/or publish anything. But I've been having ideas and I wrote this one random day and am just now putting it to paper.**

 **As my profile will tell you, Kataang is one of my OTPs and one of the major reasons I got into Fanfiction in the first place. I really hope I did their characters justice and wrote them in character. I tried to fit in little references, here and there to the show that are Aang's recollections of the real world.**

 **This story was inspired by an image I've always seen floating around on DeviantArt called Kataang: Uplifted which is the cover image for this story. Haven't seen it in a long time but I just found it, so yay!**

 **Anyways, please read, review, and enjoy!**


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